State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
School of Communication and Electronic Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Dentomaxillofac Radiol. 2023 Nov;52(8):20230180. doi: 10.1259/dmfr.20230180. Epub 2023 Oct 23.
This study aims to determine the reproducibility and location-stability of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) radiomic features.
Centrifugal tubes with six concentrations of KHPO solutions (50, 100, 200, 400, 600, and 800 mg ml) were imaged within a customized phantom. For each concentration, images were captured twice as test and retest sets. Totally, 69 radiomic features were extracted by LIFEx. The reproducibility was assessed between the test and retest sets. We used the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) to screen qualified features and then compared the differences in the numbers of them under 24 series (four locations groups * six concentrations). The location-stability was assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis test under different concentration sets; likewise, the numbers of qualified features under six test sets were analyzed.
There were 20 and 23 qualified features in the reproducibility and location-stability experiments, respectively. In the reproducibility experiment, the performance of the peripheral groups and high-concentration sets was significantly better than the center groups and low-concentration sets. The effect of concentration on the location-stability of features was not monotonic, and the number of qualified features in the low-concentration sets was greater than that in the high-concentration sets. No features were qualified in both experiments.
The density and location of the target object can affect the number of reproducible radiomic features, and its density can also affect the number of location-stable radiomic features. The problem of feature reliability should be treated cautiously in radiomic research on CBCT.
本研究旨在确定锥形束 CT（CBCT）放射组学特征的可重复性和位置稳定性。
将装有 KHPO 溶液六种浓度（50、100、200、400、600 和 800mg/ml）的离心管置于定制体模内进行成像。对于每种浓度，将图像分别作为测试和复测集进行两次采集。共提取了 69 个放射组学特征。通过 LIFEx 评估了测试和复测集之间的可重复性。我们使用一致性相关系数（CCC）筛选合格特征，然后比较 24 个系列（四个位置组×六个浓度）下合格特征数量的差异。在不同浓度集下使用 Kruskal-Wallis 检验评估位置稳定性；同样，也分析了六个测试集中合格特征的数量。
在可重复性和位置稳定性实验中，分别有 20 个和 23 个合格特征。在可重复性实验中，外围组和高浓度组的性能明显优于中心组和低浓度组。浓度对特征位置稳定性的影响并非单调的，低浓度组的合格特征数量大于高浓度组。在两个实验中均没有合格特征。
目标物体的密度和位置会影响可重复放射组学特征的数量，其密度也会影响位置稳定的放射组学特征的数量。在 CBCT 放射组学研究中，应谨慎对待特征可靠性问题。
